Get Comfortable and Start Cooking
Short Ribs braised in red wine and served over creamy polenta! Now, that’s comfort food! The cold days of winter and early spring will be over soon enough and the weather will get hot. By then we’ll likely be thinking back on the cooler days and wish we’d taken more time to enjoy delicious, decadent, cold-weather comfort food while it was actually acceptable behavior!
There is nothing more comforting to me than spending a rainy day with the oven on, cooking something that takes a good, long, time and makes the house smell like love and hugs. That’s what slow cooked short ribs mean to me. Then, put them on top of some decadent, creamy grits and you’ll be in heaven!
So go ahead and start a fire in the fireplace, put some music on and get to the cooking! Enjoy the last of the cozy-in-the-house kind of weekends, we deserve it.
What You’ll Need
For the Ribs
5 pounds bone-in beef short ribs, cut into crosswise 2′ pieces
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
3 medium onions, chopped
6 medium carrots, peeled, chopped
5 celery stalks, chopped
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1 750 milliliter bottle red wine (Syrah or Cabernet or Zinfandel)
flat leaf parsley (chopped, save 1/3 for garnish)
1 head garlic, halved
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme (or 1 1/2 tablespoons dry)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano (or 3/4 tablespoons dry)
1 tablespoon finely chopped/minced rosemary
4 cups low sodium beef broth
Creamy, Rich, Delicious Polenta
Serve over Creamy Polenta
For the Polenta:
2 cups whole milk
1 cup water (plus a bit more if needed to thin), a cup of stone ground grist, salt and 1/2 stick butter, cubed
1 cup stone ground grits
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Season ribs with salt and pepper; Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
Allow ribs to brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Do not overcrowd the pot, so work in batches if necessary
Transfer browned short ribs to a plate and set aside.
Add onions, carrots and celery to the pot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until onion are browned, about 5 minutes.
Coat with flour and add tomato paste; cook, stirring constantly until well combined, at least 2-3 minutes
Slowly stir in wine to combine (My favorite part!)
Now, add ribs and any juices left on the plate. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium and cook until wine is reduced by half, about 20 minutes
Add all the herbs and the garlic.
Slowly add the stock and give it a gentle stir.
Slow Cooking
Simmer until the ribs are tender, 2-2 1/2 hours. (Your house is going to smell so good, neighbors you don’t even know may be stopping by!)
Remove the pot from the oven and transfer the ribs and the veggies to a platter.
Strain the sauce from the pot to a measuring cup or gravy separator (see picture below). If you don’t have one of these just pour the sauce into a container and let it rest a while. The fat will rise to the top and you can skim off as much as possible, throw it away!
Allow the fat to rise to the surface and remove as much as you can!)
Then, return sauce to the pot with the ribs.
Time To Make the Creamy Polenta
In a medium, heavy bottom pan, bring the milk and water to a simmer over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to low, slowely stir in the grits and the salt. Gently simmer, stirring frequently (to prevent grits from sticking to the bottom of the pot) until the grits are tender and thickened, about 45 minutes. The grits should have a pudding like consistency.
Cooking grits low and slow gives the grits the creamy consistency you are looking for. Add additional milk or water as needed to maintain creamy texture and keep the grits moist while cooking.
Stir in the cubed butter, remove from heat.
Spoon grits into a shallow bowl or deep plate, the top grits with ribs and sauce. Garnish with fresh flat leaf chopped parsley.
FYI: my husband asked me to marry him all over again after this dinner!
Enjoy!
Red Wine Braised Short Ribs over Creamy Grits
Ingredients
- For the Ribs:
- 5 pounds bone-in beef short ribs, cut into crosswise 2' pieces
- 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 medium onions, chopped
- 6 medium carrots, peeled, chopped
- 5 celery stalks, chopped
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 750 milliliter bottle red wine (Syrah or Cabernet or Zinfandel)
- 1 bunch flat leaf parsley (chopped, save 1/3 for garnish)
- 1 head garlic, halved
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme (or 1 1/2 tablespoons dry)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano (or 3/4 tablespoons dry)
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped/minced rosemary
- 4 cups low sodium beef broth
- Serve over Creamy Polenta
For the Polenta:
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup water (plus a bit more if needed to thin)
- 1 cup stone ground grits
- 1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
- 1/2 stick butter, (4 tablespoons) cubed
Instructions
- For the short ribs:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Season ribs with salt and pepper
- Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
- Add ribs and brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Do not overcrowd the pot, so work in batches if necessary
- Transfer browned short ribs to a plate and set aside
- Add onions, carrots and celery to the pot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until onion are browned, about 5 minutes.
- Add flour and tomato paste; cook, stirring constantly until well combined, at least 2-3 minutes
- Slowly stir in wine to combine
- Add ribs and any juices left on the plate
- Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium and cook until wine is reduced by half, about 20 minutes
- Add all the herbs and the garlic
- Add the stock
- Bring to a boil then cover and transfer to the oven
- Cook until ribs are tender, 2-2 1/2 hours
- Transfer ribs to a platter
- Strain the sauce from the pot to a measuring cup or gravy separator (see image)
- allow the fat to rise to the surface and remove most of it (not all of it!)
- Return sauce to the pot with the ribs
For the Polenta:
- In a medium, heavy bottom pan, bring the milk and water to a simmer over medium high heat.
- Reduce the heat to low, slowerly stir in the grits and the salt.
- Gently simmer, stirring frequently (to prevent grits from sticking to the bottom of the pot) until the grits are tender and thickened, about 45 minutes. The grits should have a pudding like consistency.
- Add additional milk or water as needed to maintain consistency and keep the grits moist while cooking.
- Stir in the cubed butter, remove from heat
- Spoon grits into a shallow bowl or deep plate, top grits with ribs and sauce. Enjoy!
